Sisi will be at Libya conference

Written by Reuters, Tuesday, 13 November 2018

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will attend a Libya conference in Palermo, state news agency MENA said, his first visit to Italy since the disappearance of Italian postgraduate student Giulio Regeni in Cairo in 2016.

Sisi departed Cairo to join a two-day conference in Sicily hosted by Italy to find ways to stabilise Libya, in turmoil since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Regeni disappeared in Cairo on January 25, 2016 the anniversary of the start of 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. His body was discovered on February 3 and Egyptian investigators found signs of extensive torture.

Intelligence and security sources told Reuters in 2016 police arrested Regeni outside a Cairo metro station on January 25 and transferred him to a compound run by Homeland Security.

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The case strained ties between Egypt and Italy, which recalled its ambassador. Relations were restored in August last year when Rome said it would return its envoy to Cairo and continue to search for Regeni’s killers.